A trio of congressional lawmakers on Tuesday introduced legislation seeking to incentivize universities in the United States against accepting research funding from foreign countries.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) joined Reps. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) introduced two bills to cut off federal funding for universities that receive research funding from, or operate a branch campus in, China, Qatar, Iran, Russia, Turkey, North Korea, Cuba, or Venezuela.
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“We know adversaries like the CCP are exploiting our universities to access cutting-edge research and push their anti-American agendas,” Gottheimer said in a statement. “This bipartisan legislation draws a clear line: if you’re taking money tied to hostile nations, you shouldn’t be getting U.S. taxpayer dollars, full stop. It’s about protecting our national security and standing up for American innovation.”
Under the bipartisan No Branch Campuses in Hostile Countries Act and the Defending American Research Act, universities that receive money from those countries or affiliates could lose access to U.S. federal research funding for five years if it is related to potentially sensitive national security issues such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and quantum information science.
If passed, the bills could have a devastating impact on major U.S. institutions. Carnegie Mellon University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and Harvard University are just a few of the prestigious schools heavily reliant on research funding from other countries.
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Last year, Qatar, the United Kingdom, China, Switzerland, and Japan were the top five foreign funders of U.S. higher education, according to data from the Department of Education released in February.
Overall, $67.6 billion in foreign funding to U.S. colleges and universities has been reported since 1986, according to the agency. The majority of that funding has been disclosed to the government only since 2019, according to officials.
